BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Government’s ambitious plans to make the State Capital a Wi-Fi city has received a boost with IT giants like Microsoft and IBM evincing interest in the project.

While IBM will make a presentation before the State Government later this month, software major Microsoft has also shown interest in the Wi-Fi project.

The Information Technology Department has already roped in Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) as the consultant. The STPI has been entrusted with the responsibility of preparing the detailed project report (DPR).

Minister of State for IT Pranab Prakash Das told mediapersons here on Wednesday that STPI will conduct a proof of concept (PoC) study at four to five places in the City, apart from preparing the DPR. The detailed project report  is expected to be ready within two months. Once the project report is ready, the Department will float a tender seeking proposals from international players to execute the project. The entire cost of the project will be borne by the State Government.

While Bhubaneswar Wi-Fi project is unique in the sense that it plans to cover the entire city, Das said, there will be no fully free Wi-Fi zone in the Capital.

“The State Government is looking at a model under which a free window for Wi-Fi services may be considered. It could be for 30 minutes in the entire day as is the case with other cities. We will also work out a revenue model in consultation with Software Technology Parks of India,” the Minister said.

Only a handful of Indian cities such as Bengaluru, Indore and Pune provide free public Wi-Fi hotspots and in most cases it is only a patch of the urban area where the free service is available.

A 20-km stretch between Ashok Rajpath to Danapur in Patna was declared Wi-Fi enabled earlier this year while Bengaluru was among the first to start free public Wi-Fi hotspots along Mahatma Gandhi Road and Brigade Road in 2013.

Similarly, the Connaught Place region of New Delhi also offers Wi-Fi.

Source : New Indian Express..